Lone Parents and Informal Childcare: A Tax Credit Childcare Subsidy?

Abstract

The Labour government aims to increase the lone parent employment rate to  per cent by  . To achieve this aim, it has introduced a state subsidy for childcare in the form of the childcare element of the Working Tax Credit. So far this has been limited to formal childcare despite evidence that lone parents are more likely to use informal childcare. This article investigates the potential of a state subsidy to be extended to support informal childcare. Utilizing evidence from a study of  qualitative in-depth interviews with lone parents, it explores preferences for informal care and the way that informal care is negotiated. On the one hand, we found that some lone parents held deeply embedded preferences for informal childcare based on trust, commitment, shared understandings and children's happiness. Thus it can be concluded that it is important for the government to support informal as well as formal care. On the other, we found that the way lone parents actually negotiated informal childcare involved complex notions of obligation, duty and reciprocity, suggesting that a subsidy could potentially intrude upon complex private family relationships. However, the evidence suggests that care was negotiated differently depending on whether it was provided by a grandparent or other family and friends, with lone parents tending to favour paying for childcare provided by other family and friends than grandparents. This has implications for a state subsidy, which needs further investigation.

Hours of Paid Work Among Single and Partnered Mothers in Australia

“…Even where the government subsidises formal childcare, as it does in Australia, this is usually relatively expensive. In contrast, family and friends provide the vast majority of informal childcare in Australia (around 90%) at little or no cash cost to the parents (Cobb-Clark, Liu, & Mitchell, 1999), although they may be expected to reciprocate by providing other care or favours (Skinner & Finch, 2006). Therefore, informal care could be used as a cheap way to 'top up' any formal childcare received and maximise the time mothers can allocate to paid work.…”

“…Cultural beliefs about good parenting are another explanation. In Australia (Hand & Hughes, 2005) and Britain (Skinner & Finch, 2006) many mothers of young children prefer not to use extended hours of formal childcare on the grounds that it does not take place in a 'family environment" and thus is not as protective and nurturing. In contrast, informal care is often provided by relatives who live close by (Baxter, Gray, Alexander, Strazdins, & Bittman, 2007) and who have a greater attachment to the child and stronger incentives to invest in her development (Hansen & Hawkes, 2009 p. 215).…”

“…Wheelock and Jones (2002) argue that families use 'complex jigsaws' of childcare, where informal childcare acts as a strategic complement to formal childcare. Skinner and Finch (2006) conceptualize the role of the informal care component of a mixed childcare package as the 'glue' that "binds formal arrangements together and aids employment" (p. 821). The manifestations this 'gluing' role can be diverse and range from being used to transport children from a kindergarten (or school) to a formal care centre to being used as emergency 'back up' care when usual arrangements break down (Rutter & Evans, 2011;Skinner & Finch, 2006).…”

Between Money and Love: Work-family Conflict Among Swedish Low-income Single Mothers

“…The downside is that it gave rise to feeling of vulnerability, dependency, and lack of autonomy (cf. Skinner & Finch, 2006). Receiving extensive help could also create feelings of being indebted.…”

The business of care

“…For the most part, families with atypical working hours are relying on informal childcare during their working day (such as relatives, nannies or baby sitters), in turn often making them exempt from crucial financial supports like childcare tax credits and subsidies which relate primarily to the formalized sector (Glendinning and Kemp, 2006;Skinner and Finch, 2006). A recent study by the Daycare Trust on atypical working hours estimated that only 35 per cent of employees work standard hours, with almost half of all single parents working atypical hours in the UK (Rutter and Evans, 2012).…”